Catch Up post

Thu 29th: 8 miles along the canal, 53:53 (27:55 out, 25:58 back)
Fri: 6 miles on the grass, 43:04
Sat: Day off
Sun: 13 miles over in Sligo, 88:56
Mon: 4 miles, ~30 mins
Tue: 10 miles, 67:38; Avg HR = 147bpm, max = 161bpm.
Wed: Day off

I'm sucking pretty good at keeping track of the training in the blogosphere format. Mon-Sun of last week formed the downweek of the monthly cycle, hence no workouts last week, plus a slightly shorter Sunday run. Despite the easier week, the legs have felt pretty gassed since the previous week. Highlight of the week was definitely the few days in Sligo for the long weekend. Rotated the day off from Wed to Saturday to allow for travelling etc. Got in a great run on Sunday along some amazing scenery followed by about 2 hours of surfing for the first time. Surfing rocks. That night, Enda, his brother and a couple of lads were heading to Leonard Cohen. Since I didn't have a ticket, I found a nice high bar stool and kicked back with some of the Sligo natives. Little did I realise that Leonard puts on quite a show. By the time the lads got back I was full as a boot, and as a result the run on Monday was both short and very slow. Bit like myself. A dip in the Atlantic followed by some more surfing that afternoon rounded out the trip.
Tuesday's run was the first time in almost two weeks the legs felt like they had some life in them. Let's hope so, workout tomorrow.
The shins have been bothersome at worst this week, with some improvement after the day off on Saturday. Hoping that I've nipped it in the bud, but will be keeping an eye on it for a few days more.

In the Hurt Locker

Thu: Off
Fri: 7 miles, no time
Sat: 5 miles; 34:37 + a few strides
Sun: ~12 miles, 82 mins  (Weeks total: 6 runs, 41 miles)
Mon: 5 miles, 38:16 (seriously)

A good few days running (except today). Legs felt great Friday after physio on Wednesday and day of rest on Thursday. Kept it easy Saturday, and then had a great run with Kim and Tarpy on Sunday. Was longer than the planned 10, but felt good and enjoyed the run. Stiffened up quite a bit after though, and combined with the roughly 10 beers during the rest of the day the body is not feeling too good today. The run this morning was a pure slog.
Had a great weekend with Tarpy doing the 5 year thing here in Dublin. Had good craic Saturday evening with the PC crew over for the Jonesy/Quinn wedding, and then a great Sunday with Tarpy and Ed. Got some good running, good beers and good craic. Definitely not as aggressive as the weekends of yesteryear might have been but did the best we could. Feeling happy with the progress made running wise over the last few weeks, and am pretty confident I am fit enough to begin following last years schedule leading into the marathon. The 20 week training program starts next Monday.

Last pre-race run

4 miles, 27:02

Decided I wanted a preview of the pain I'm subjecting myself to on Monday and was relatively pleased with how this went. Did one mile at ~MP that turned out to be around 6:15 which will do grand given the lack of training the last 3 weeks. Felt fine with it, leg was tight obviously, the question is whether it can stand up to another 25 of them. Will hit the pool tomorrow for a light session and that will do it.

Got more physio this evening and more lined up tomorrow.

The last few sessions have really been helping loosen things out, but also getting down to the crux of my non-stress fracture injuries. Pretty much all of these have been problems with the left quad/groin. What I didnt know is that they are all stemming from a total lack of work by the left gluteal and piriformis muscles. So basically my left ass cheek doesn't do what its supposed to. What this causes, as I think the 2 pictures below demonstrate, is a compensatory roll of the femoral head in the hip after the leg makes contact with the ground, and the knee tracks inwards upon transition to toe off. This puts a lot of stress on the quad/groin as the pic in red shows, causing the problems I now have.

The advice from the physio (which you guys will love) is to run 'like John Wayne, pretend you've got a horse between your legs'; i.e. focus on keeping the knee outward. Tried this on the run today, and while it isn't too challenging in a physical sense, mentally like any stride adjustment it took a ton of concentration, and maybe difficult to maintain throughout the race on Monday.

Back at it

10 miles, 66:25

Was happy to get back out there this morning. Foot had improved sufficiently that I felt confident it would stand up to the rigours of a run. In general the run was incident free, although one sharp left turn in particular caused a little discomfort. However, post run the foot felt the same as pre-run, and walking around afterwards the foot felt better than yesterday. Started taking Neurofen, and think there is an anti-inflammatory gel floating around the house here that will be put to use.

My uncle is getting married tomorrow at the grand age of 61. Da is the best man. This should be interesting. In the meantime, Ireland shall hopefully vote Yes to Lisbon, and I'll have a good tempo tomorrow. Back posting Saturday

Easy day

6 miles, 40:20

The rest day had the desired effect on the legs as I was feeling super today with the exception of my foot. The foot actually felt worse today than it did yesterday despite the day off, with it starting to hurt walking around. Running actually felt better than when I was walking. Afterwards the foot was better than it had been beforehand, so hopefully it'll improve with treatment. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Bullit Bitten

5 miles, 35:08

Just a shake out run after taking the red eye back to Dublin last night. Overall legs felt pretty good, and the tiredness isn't bad at all as I got a couple of hours sleep on the plane and back to the apartment at 7am for 5 hours of unconsciousness.

Bit the bullet and finally entered the marathon. I'd been postponing this out of fear of jinxing myself and having something go wrong, but since deadline is Oct 5th, there isn't any point to hanging around. €97.20 seems like a lot to inflict massive amounts of torture on myself, but hopefully it proves to be worth it.

Mundee bloos

6 miles, 41:54

Had to run in the early morning as I was testing all day and struggled to get out of bed to get the week started. Once I was going though, the body felt good and ready to go. Definitely sucked trying to get motivated for work knowing that those that bow to the queen had the day off today. And sweet feck all else to report!

Morning jaunt

8 miles, no time

Ran early, weather was joyous. JOYOUS I tell ya. Felt good although there is still some tiredness in the legs. Am absolutely shattered now, its been a long week. And I shouldn't but I will:

When Caster Semenya was told she would have to undergo gender testing, apparently she replied, I will on my bollocks! I'm going to hell for that one.

Beginning of an easy week

5 miles, no time

HR 144-54

This week is the down week in this month's cycle, so nothing but easy running. Left the watch at home, but threw on the HR monitor just to make sure I kept it easy. Was in the 140's for 90% of the run, but on a few occasions I let the mind wander and when I came to I'd let the pace quicken and the HR had climbed into the 150s. Legs felt very good after yesterday's longer effort, with no soreness at all. Happy days.

Catch up post

8 miles, 54:17

Legs felt pretty good today. The pain in the left foot subsided for the most part, although threatened to rear its head around 15 mins in. Did some work on it after which helped. Generally felt that the recovery from Saturday is progressing nicely.
Very pissed off to be unable to find a working internet feed for the World champs, meaning I missed the mens 10k final. Having got a blow by blow account as it happened from Jilane and reading the reports after, I was delighted to see that Tadesse was so happy with his medal. The guy is a legend, and I love watching him run as he just gets after it, but is nearly always beaten by Bekele. Nice to see him truly pleased despite being beaten for gold. "I was not really kicking you know" Showoff.

Come on already

6 miles, 41:31

I have to admit I'm pretty nervous/excited about tomorrow. The run today was a typical pre-race run; pace was relaxed, felt like I had tons of energy and at the same time a heaviness in the legs solely due to nerves. Not sure why I'm that much more nervous about this one than the 5 miler. Think its primarily because I'm aware how much 10 miles could suck if I get the pace wrong early. Definitely more positive now than I was earlier, and feel like I can crank out a decent run. If not, then there's plenty of time to get things in order, and a lot more on tap for the weekend to look forward to.

Rejected

8 miles, no time

Continuing with the no time deal for the week, I have to say I'm enjoying it. I have more than once caught myself trying to check the time on the non-existant watch, which is pretty pathetic. First 200m of the run I had some real soreness in the left achilles/soleus, which was a little surprising given yesterday's off day. Didnt take long for it to work out though, and after that I have to say I felt pretty darn good. Contemplating going 18 for the first time on Sunday, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Recruiting for the study has gone pretty terribly the past couple of weeks. I got 5 straight no's today just asking if I could talk to them about the study, let alone ask them if they wanted to take part. Times like this make me wonder whether its worth it, and more importantly, am I ever going to finish? Dilemmas........

Tired

It's late, I'm hungry and tired. No details today.

Mon: 5 miles, 34:56

Tue: 10 miles, 65:44, followed by the gym.

Legs have some pop, the rest of me is just poop. In desperate need of sleep. Day off tomorrow should aid with this.

oh boy

6 miles, 41:53

Thank god that the race wasn't today because I would have been fucked with a capital F. I felt flatter than Keira Knightley's chest (I still so would), which can entirely be attributed to a lack of sleep last night (~5 hours). Still, have plenty of time for recovery before tomorrow, and am getting pretty excited about the race. I'm very curious to see what I run, and have never been so unsure of what to expect, but I'm going to play the ballsy card and say that I'm aiming to run 28mins. I would be pleased with sub 28:30 though, but we'll see what happens. The course is set up tough, and if I don't get the pace right in the first two miles I'm proper fucked.

Went to the Porterhouse last night for the first time, and will definitely be back. Quality establishment, with some savagely good beers. Drank the fantastically named Galway Hooker last night, which tasted as good as the name sounds. Happy days.

Recovery

6 miles easy, 43:10
HR = 143 - 149

Kept this nice and slow, but was happy to find that the soreness/tightness in the soleuses abated after a couple of hundred yards leaving me a nice easy run in the sun. Surprised at the lack of soreness from yesterday, and think it might be waiting to creep up on me tomorrow. Left off the gym an extra day too, when you look this good, its easy to lay off waxing the guns a day or so.

Hoomid

6 miles, 43:06

Wasn't particularly enthused about running today as Wednesday is my usual day off and my legs were pretty gassed yesterday. However I'm not going to get a chance to run Friday so got my ass out the door. Legs were still tired and very stiff/sore in the soleus muscles, which was evident from the 7:30 first mile, followed by a 7:20. After this the legs loosened up considerably and I even managed to duck under 7 min pace on the last mile or two. Hit the Ice cup up last night and again tonight and the shins are very receptive. Looking forward to running a respectable length run tomorrow.

Return to normality

8 miles, 53:02

After getting home late this morning, and feeling pretty tired/crappy, only went into college for the bare minimum today to set myself up for a busy rest of the week. Got out the door to run around 6ish, and was happy to feel that the legs were feeling good, but given the paucity of the weekend mileage that's understandable. Did have some tightness in the right shin that was due to doing nothing preventative over the weekend, but this gradually worked itself into tightness in the right calf by the runs end. Run overall was relaxed and enjoyable. Looking to get back into a routine of normal day to day activity from here on in.

Oh its a deep burn

8 miles, 52:35

Was in a rush today as I had to get home today to pick up this ghetto ass laptop I'm writing on (Windows 2000, 568mb of RAM, its a beast) so ran after not eating for 7 hours or so as I got held up at the hospital. Big mistake. All kinds of gassy shenanigans started happening in the intestinal regions leading to some spectacular sound effects and no small amount of clenching to get home in the proverbial one piece. Not a fun feeling. Sharing too much? Most likely.

Back at it

10 miles, 66:58

I am not enjoying my days off. The legs were definitely thankful for it this morning as I felt very good today, but yesterday was a mindf*ck of a boring day, I felt useless. As for this mornings run, felt good, ran relaxed and easy, and just enjoyed it. It's been a quiet week all round outside of training. I've done f*ck all work as my equipments broke, no clinic for the diabetics today, and struggling for anything else to do. Putting the kettle on and the feet up. Happy days.

Restraint

8 miles, 52:38

Calves are still toight today, but improved from yesterday. All the same, I'm glad of the day off tomorrow. Took a couple of miles to get going, but felt good. Took some restraint to keep it easy as some goy was lapping the field in the opposite direction but taking about 10-15secs out of me each time around which I didn't like, but thoughts of October kept me pacified.

Feck all else to comment on, so I'll just leave it there.